Govt to Abolish Rs. 54 Billion Development Funds for Finance Division in FY23

The government has decided to abolish Rs. 54 billion block allocations for Finance Division in the upcoming Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2022-23, well-informed sources told ProPakistani. With the provisional Indicative Budget Ceiling of Rs. 600-800 billion, the Finance Division has also issued guidelines regarding the inclusion of projects in the PSDP 2022-23, saying that the Finance Division will not maintain any separate block allocations and the PSDP will be exclusively managed by the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives. Until now, block allocations for the Finance Division were kept in the PSDP, and it was out of the Planning Division’s domain. The Planning Commission used to issue a one-time sanction for Finance Division and manage the expenditure. Now, it has been decided that in the new fiscal year, the block allocations will be abolished, the source said. During the ongoing FY 2021-22, there are two block allocations of Rs. 54 billion for the Finance Division. The Merged Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have the block allocations of Rs. 24 billion, while the Merged Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 10 Years Development Plan has Rs. 30 billion block allocations. For the running fiscal year, Azad Jammu and Kashmir have block allocations of Rs. 28 billion, Gilgit Baltistan Rs. 18 billion, Viability Gap Fund (VGF) for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Projects Rs. 6.15 billion, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Rs. 22 billion, among others. Furthermore, it has also been decided in the new guidelines that Finance Division shall not keep a separate development demand for the provinces. “All the development projects, allocations, and expenditure will be included in the PSDP 2022-23 by the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives,” the source said. In the PSDP 2022-22, no funds shall be kept for any lump provision or unidentified expenditure, according to the guidelines.